EDITOR’S NOTE: This gardening column was written by Eric Larson.
Gardening has, for as long as I can remember, been a part of my family.
When my great-grandparents came to this continent, one of the things they looked for was a piece of property with enough size to have a large garden. Many of our grandparents probably did the same thing.
Gardens also gave them a sense of freedom from having to go to the grocery store and paying for their vegetables. Maybe we all need to start thinking like this again.
Over the years I have heard that others have thought that gardening was a curse.
My hope is that as you read my column and see how much easier gardening has become, that this same philosophy of gardening will now give you joy as you go outside and see the beauty it can bring into your life.
I remember my grandmother having a small greenhouse when I was a kid. One year my parents took us all down to Florida for a vacation.
My folks brought back some of those small orange trees that vendors sell by the side of the road.
Mother gave my grandmother the small trees, and years later I remember seeing the orange tree growing in her greenhouse in full bloom and thriving. Grandma would always have the most beautiful yard.
Even with a small greenhouse she would grow her own geraniums, annuals like marigolds, and petunias that would change with something else from time to time.
My parents have maintained this heritage of love for plants. They have owned two greenhouses and their gardens are beautiful.
Between my folks, my brother, his ex-wife and myself we had a plant-rental business that helped support three families for more than five years. It was started over 40 years ago and continued by my sister-in-law until just recently.
Their passion for flowers has infected many people outside the family, too.
Dad’s taste for unusual plants brought Northern Passionflower and Franklin tree into his yard. Yet even two years ago dad grew a garden full of zinnias in memory of mom.
Over the years I have enjoyed many plants from their gardens.
My wife enjoyed her daily bouquet of flowers delivered to her door from my parent’s garden while we were dating.
Before becoming a landscape designer with Schrauf Landscaping in North Ridgeville in 2001, I worked in a greenhouse, a nursery, and a park before working at Schrauf. When I was in school I mowed lawns for a lot of people while I lived in Jacksonville, Florida.
For three different seasons I kept a 100 x 100 vegetable garden, which kept me hopping. I built built my own gazebo and greenhouse, and created many unique things with my designs in the garden, which I oversaw.
I find gardening fun, relaxing, tasty, and almost spiritual.
I have designed gardens from Lexington to Lake Erie, and Ravenna to Galion. I have worked for landscapers in Mansfield, Stow, and North Ridgeville and for myself.
My clients have ranged from a little old lady in Mansfield on a limited budget to a cardiologist who use to live in Avon Lake and is now nationally known.
A friend tapped me on the shoulder and I agreed to be a founding board member of the Ohio Chapter of Association of Professional Landscape Designers, from which I was the Vice President.
This occupation has not really been a job for me over the years but my passion.
My basic desire is to serve as acting as an aide in showing you the power, beauty, and health that you can find in your own garden as we stroll through our gardens and lives every other week together.
This column will be based on your participation. As we stroll through our gardens we will come up with questions.
If you see something that you need help with, drop me an email at ericlarson546@jegjrfan.
I am looking forward to serving you and we shall continue our strolls through our gardens.
Soon I shall have a link to my blog at www.ohiohealthyfoodcooperative.org.